Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-03-06
For the SUNDAY REGIsrER.
BOB S~QUEEZLE'S DANCE
At straw berry Flats In '5s.
BY UNCLE PETER.

N N'lE
"Say, Pete" said Squcezlc, as we sat
t~oasting our shins by a snug fire a few
evenings ago, did | ever tell you bout a
dance at Strawberry Flats when we war
goin' to Californy in'52?'
Saw ! WAS in for one Of his old timers,
and merely remarked that ! had no recol-
lection of il.
"Well. hand over that bug Juice till lie
my iawtackle; pears ter me its kind o
rusty"
Having complied with his request, the
old man took n hearty snifter and settled
back in his chair with an added color on
his cheek and a new lustre in his eye. He
paused q moment, while memory Travelled
backward gathering up the tangled threads
of the past, then turning his SCARED and
weatherbeaten c0untenancc t0ward me, he
said
Pete; ryou m%oughtn't think, to look ut
me. now, that I'd ever been any ways
handsome, would you? but 80 is n long
time ago. | was in my prime then, an
though | do say it myself, ] was bout rs
likely a specimen Oy the male sex rs ever
left old Wheeling togo out and dig out mug
pets OH the Petite coast. | war tall,
broad shOuldered, strong, and AZ spry as n
wildcat, an if thar war airy one thing
tuck pride in, it war dancin'. j could
dance from dark till daylight, anytime, an
think nothin' of it, but that night at
Strawberry mighty nigh took the jig outer
-. Iza. g. H.. l.at .i hnu and
we'd been trav'Iin scnce airly in the
mornin' an struck strawberry bout 4
o'clock in the evcnin' in the middle OF q
kind of hurrycanc. Weepin' Pilgrims!
how il did rain and blow! 1t een'a'most
tuck the hair Of'n the cattle. It'd
bin rainin' OFF m ON
fer a week or so, an the trail wuZ terribly |
cut up an 80 crowded with OK an mule
teams that we'd purity hard work to git
along. We war most tuckcred out, an, tn
make matters WIS, we couldn't git no
shelter an he'd Ia camp in the wagons.
''Artcr we'd swallcr'd bit o cold grub
an got things kinder fixed up fer night,
some galO0t %meandered INTO camp an told
thar war a dance down the trail a piece.
That struck me whar | lived an ] sed if
enybody'd go long | wuz ready. Most nv
the boys lowed it wouldn't be
healthy, as it war Mexican
dance, an the greasers didn't
like Yankees, but an Irishman, Dennis
Blake, sed he'd go, an if the bloody
greasers undertook to welt US, we'd hcv our
sheer Ov the fun Outcn it, anyhow. Bill
Barnes and Sam Spilcs sed TO count them
in, an we he'd a chap from Shake Rag,
down below Wheeling, near Weegee, Bar
tholimew Shinn, who calk'lsted he'd like
to see a little fun. ] reckon he war the
c%uriOusest lO0kin' feller You ever seed,
Pete. He war long an lank an ththy, an
like he wal made one-sided all over. We
called him Lanky for short. He war q
quiet kind Oy a cues an We he'd a idee that
he wuz derned cowardly, but you can't
most always tell, an thar's whar we made
a mistake.
1--WE didn't take eny time TO slick up, |
for it still poured down rain, an the mud
wuz ankle deep. We jist said 80 long" to
the boys, an slid out. Phew! what a
night Pete; it makes me dry 10 think Of
it, yet"
And the old fellow glanced toward
the bottle. / passed it over, and, having
sampled it, he continued:
1--WE found the dance goin' on in q long
shed-roofed buildin' with a addition to one
side Ov il Gr n bzr-room. In course, we
hit that fust, an arter each oy
US hal laid in four fingers
straight, we axed the barkeeper
about dancin.' Oh! be sed, 20 ahead,
pitch right in, room for all. Lanky kind
a. i.,-,aJ M lao JIn,vn ,u;d battar b.,
'nuther fore we went in, we hedn't mag
iced he was that kind Of q Teller. How
dever we wal 'greeable. We lickered up
agin au then PRECEDED 70 j'ine the ladies,
so to speak.
81 hedn't seen a bit Of caliker senee we
left the States an / war, jist bout dyin' 10
hear the swish ov q woman's gownd, but
/ didn't hear 'en swish much that night,
not TO eny great extent. Fact Is, Pete,
thar wasn't much gown on 'em 10 swish.
Fer awhile, at fust, ] imagined them eight
fingers oy whisky was too much fer me an
/ war hevin a spell ov snakes. II you never
seed a lot oy squaws an halE-breeds
in thar material forgery yOu can't bev no
idee what they look like; b. gosh ! WIZ
half afeerd TO tackle en-, but 10 wouhnt
do to go hack TO camp 'thout dancin, the
boys'd laugh at rs. so we sailed in. The
gals war willin' an IL they didn't hev
much harness on, an couldn't talk to us,
they danced a. we'll as il they know'd how
an tuck tharwhisky like little winner.
Bet your boots, we war heyin' lots os fun.
Lanky'd ben eDjoyin' hisself mainly,
dancin' all the time an yisitin' the har ,
purity oftin, but he KEEP his eyes peeled,
AM arter while he cum TO me an sed look
out, Bob, the greasers Is ftin' mad an
thar's goin' TO be tFubble hyer. Mehby
we'd better git outen tbs. ! tho't he
yuz skeer'd an / told him
he could go If he wuz afeerd, but I reckpd !
the rest oy us nd see it out changed
nv 'pinion ov Lanky fore We got away :